Acupuncture and the Common Cold

What to Expect During Acupuncture Treatment for Colds

You do not need to have a cold currently to benefit from regular acupuncture treatment. Regular treatment can help boost your immune system and defend your body against any incoming viruses, so you spend less time being sick and more time being healthy. If this is your first time receiving acupuncture treatments, here are some things you can expect.

To determine the type of acupuncture treatment you need to either treat a current cold or aid your body in defending itself against common viruses, your acupuncturist will ask you about your symptoms and determine the path that will best help you.

Acupuncture points are situated in all areas of the body, and it’s important to know that sometimes the point on your body that is experiencing the symptom is not the point on your body that will be treated. Sometimes the appropriate points are far removed from the area of your pain or other symptom. Acupuncture treatment involves the use of very thin needles that cause little to no discomfort when applied to the acupuncture points throughout your body.

While the peak of cold and flu season is typically reported in January and February of each year, the official season for colds and the flu begins as we enter the fall. Most adult Americans report catching between two and four colds each year, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

There are ways to strengthen your immune system and combat the common cold without necessarily using expensive prescriptions drugs. Acupuncture can help boost your immune system and defend against certain seasonal illnesses. It can also help you recover more quickly when you do catch a cold.

How Does Acupuncture Help?

Acupuncture works to restore balance in a person’s flow of life-giving energy, which allows the body to heal itself, according to the tenets of Traditional Chinese Medicine. This energy — also known as Qi —takes many forms. The immune system, as we refer to it in the West, is one of them.

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners believe that when a person’s Qi is strong, the body can ward off illness and harmful pathogens more effectively. Qi is a universal energy that is believed to saturate everything around us, including people, animals and nature.

Sometimes a person’s Qi is weakened by illness or stresses in life. Acupuncture works to rebalance this flow of energy and, essentially, repair any weaknesses within it. By boosting the body and giving it what it needs to strengthen itself, acupuncture helps prepare the body to fight viruses more effectively.

Managing Your Cold With Acupuncture

Acupuncture can help relieve cold symptoms almost immediately, and help the body fight the virus much more quickly than it would if left untreated. Typically, acupuncture treatment for colds involves placing thin acupuncture needles at points along the large intestine and lung meridians. Treating these particular meridians is known to help activate sound immune function.

Recently, studies have shown that acupuncture plays a role in increasing the body’s natural production of T-cells. T-cells help destroy harmful bacteria and viruses in the body, including the common cold. Acupuncture has also been found to support the system that helps fight against infections and allergic reactions.

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